I’ve been pounding away at the keyboard every day as my deadline bears down on me. I seem to hear the ticking of the clock 24/7. I’ve had a string of pretty good writing days, word-count-wise (not outstanding but good), but I’ve also had a few days that were pathetic. Like the day I spent so much time on the phone and finding records regarding my mom’s care center residence. (That stuff really takes the creativity right out of me.)
You know the opening scene of Romancing The Stone? Writer in a fog. Cupboards bare. No toilet paper or tissues. Well, my pantry and refrigerator are just about empty. I won’t even confess in public what my diet has consisted of for the past couple of weeks. I’m pretty sure it would give a nutritionist a heart attack.
Anyway, when I stopped writing yesterday because my brain was fried, I was feeling a bit of panic and despair. How on earth was I going to end this book? It didn’t seem there was any possible resolution to the story as it’s been written. (Yes, this is one of the downsides of being a seat-of-the-pants writer.) I was about ready to blow up my hero and heroine in some sort of terrible accident. However, that kind of ending isn’t generally considered a good one in a romance. What to do? What to do?
Nothing came to me while I did some mindless computer files clean up.
Nothing came to me as I ate my dinner.
Nothing came to me when I tossed the squeaky ball for Poppet.
Finally I called it a night.
Then, as I was just finishing brushing my teeth I had one of those wonderful-but-all-too-rare aha moments. I raced to my office to grab my “rolling plot” journal, and I began scribbling in it as fast as I could. A set up for the climactic scene. Bits of dialogue. Several key components to bring the story to a satisfactory end. Best of all neither the hero or the heroine have to be blown up for it to work.
Despite not going to sleep until 11:30 pm, I was wide awake at 5:00 am. Even better, I had a few more things to scribble in my journal, as well as a note to send to my editor about additional places to add certain content. Oh man. It really felt good.
I am still too far from typing THE END, but at least I feel satisfied that I actually have an ending. That’s always a good thing.
My brother flies in from New York today for a very quick visit with our mom. Of course, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. With my bare pantry, he may starve to death. No, wait. I’ve got eggs. He won’t starve. But I’m going to have to ignore him for a few hours on Saturday and keep writing. That’s okay. Mom’s the person he’s coming to see anyway. We’ve got a big (18 people) extended family dinner planned for Saturday evening. That will be great fun. I love my fam!
And somehow, by hook or by crook, this book will be finished soon.
~robin
